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Conservative Portugal beats ‘liberal’ U.S. on gay rights

"Guess which nation will be the first to legalize marriage equality for LGBT
people: the predominantly Catholic nation in the Old World with a conservative
president, or the one led by a liberal and founded on the principle of the
separation of church and state?

"Amazingly enough, Monday's news proved it to be the former. Portugal's
President Anibal Cavaco Silva announced that he would ratify a law to permit the freedom to marry, making it the sixth European nation where gay couples can wed -- and
far ahead of the United States when it comes to civil rights for LGBT people.
Belgium, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Norway round out the European
countries that validate the right of citizens to marry who they choose. Other
nations where marriage equality is the law of the land? Canada and South Africa.
Civil unions are affirmed in New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Finland, Denmark,
Iceland, Germany, and Israel. The Portuguese bill, which passed a Socialist
Parliament in January, comes after the nation legalized civil unions in 2001 for
a country that is 90 percent Catholic.

"And what of the United States, land of 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness?' Here, marriage equality is illegal in 45 states, while a handful of
others offer limited domestic partnerships. ..."